FNB Art Joburg
28.10 - 07.11.2021
In a moment of uncertain reconnection, Anelisa Mangcu and Jana Terblanche curated the group show ‘Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt,’ seeking to create a safe space for the conversation on black portraiture. By engaging with artists who are writing themselves into the cannon, brought together 25 African voices with diverse styles of art-making.
Mangcu and Terblanche have been bouncing ideas and supporting one another as young women in the art world for about two decades. Their professional, academic and personal lives are as interconnected as the network who made the show come to life. The artists featured are exploring black portraiture from Southern, Central and West Africa. Both Mangcu and Terblanche graduated from Michaelis School of Fine Art in their hometown of Cape Town. The cross-continental nature of the show reflects the mutually beneficial bond between artists and curators.
Adegboyega Adesina, By the botanical garden, 2021.
The sense of freedom which comes from transitioning out of the commercial gallery art space and towards independent curatorial practice is echoed in the strong themes of leisure, intimacy and liberation in their curation of black portraiture. Alluding to the emancipatory praxis of independent curation, Mangcu says, “We don’t have boundaries. There’s no cut-off time for us. It’s a very hands-on job,” with Terblanche adding, “We have to take accountability now, which is a wonderful thing to take on, but you have to be accountable to yourself and to the artists.”
The title of the show is derived from Kurt Vonnegut’s 1969 science fiction infused anti-war novel Slaughterhouse-Five and is used to emphasise the irony of optimism birthed from trauma. The phrase Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt resonated with Mangcu and Terblanche, presenting a common denominator in complex black identities across the continent, made tangible through contemporary portraiture. As the art world is emerging out of pandemic-era closures and virtual exhibitions, so too are people, such as myself, who haven’t experienced an in-person exhibition in over two years. We are reminded that there is indeed beauty in life after pain. Open City, presented by FNB Art Joburg, was a gallery weekend that took place at the end of October aiming to celebrate art and culinary experiences in the Rosebank precinct of Johannesburg. Elaborating on why this group show was so important, Mangcu says:
We really felt that we were lacking this theme in the country in a tangible way. So it was a necessity for us because we’ve had so many virtual presentations of work. We wanted people to look at things from a different perspective, to physically connect with the works. When you see the works in person, you remember the artist and you remember how the works made you feel.
Muofhe Manavhela,
you said you wanted to dance, 2021
Making people feel good about themselves through the work was as much of a priority as collaborating with artists on presentation and preservation points. Building that relationship of interdependence was critical to the direction of the exhibition. “I think the gravitation towards painting for this show is that we were trying to have a conversation with history. There’s a long history of painting and, especially because these artists are writing themselves into the canon, it’s a direct conversation with art history.” For example, in young South African Muofhe Manavhela’s painting, you said you wanted to dance, whose style references Vincent van Gogh. Manavhela opts to align with the beauty present in van Gogh’s style, rather than commiserate with his suffering. In this moment she returned her gaze to the 19th century from the multifaceted position of the black female body.
Kimathi Mafafo, Buhle, 2021
The overall feel of the installation reminds one of a stretchable net of kinship which captures the beauty in the everyday, extended periods of rest, trauma transformed into joy. One of the standout works featured in the show is Buhle by Kimathi Mafafo, which is crafted in the mediums of machine and hand-stitched embroidery on fabric. Shadows and textures in the portrait depict a brown skinned femme are achieved through paint layered on to the intricate stitching. According to Terblanche, “The way [Mafafo] approaches textile is very painterly. Her father is a water colourist and her mother is a seamstress. I think her technique really merges those realms.”
Also merging realms in a harmonious way is South African Craig Cameron-Mackintosh’s two works Daniel in Silhouette and Kitso. Taking visual cues from his filmmaking background, Cameron-Mackintosh’s engagement with painting produces striking works which are reminiscent of film stills. Also in conversation is Congolese painter Zemba Luzamba. His approach to black portraiture is satirical and interrogates political power structures in Africa. Luzamba’s Bras de Fer depicts an arm wrestling match which can be read as a metaphor for the hostile takeovers that alternate in African geopolitics, especially this year when several national elections were interspersed with coups.
Zemba Luzamba, Bras de fer, 2021.
The temperature and future of black portraiture is somehow encapsulated in the work of Ikeorah Chisom Chi-FADA. The Nigerian mixed media visual artist has two ethereal paintings featured in the show. Feeling Funky; Peugeot 504 with Purple to match, and Behind the Louvres; in Search of Greener Pastures capture a sense of place and identity, using charcoal to emphasise blackness. The bright neon effect of acrylic and pastels ignites nostalgia, immortalising everyday people with the iconography of the glowing flame. This marks optimism and beauty on the margins of the art world and at the centre of black life.
Pondering the evolution of portraiture in African art and its diaspora situates the artists in ‘Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt’ in the same cosmos as Kerry James Marshall, Toyin Ojih Odutola, and Gerard Sekoto. When these artists conspire across generations What all the artists share in common is an affinity for breaking conventions to cast themselves anew. Just as the narrative in Slaughterhouse-Five is non-linear, ‘Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt’ is looking to extend the conversation on black portraiture from dynamic points of view.
Ikeorah Chisom Chi-FADA, Feeling Funky; Peugeot 504 with Purple to match, 2021.
